"Philip Jose Farmer - Traitor to the Living" - читать интересную книгу автора (Farmer Phillip Jose)

used his pull with the clean of education, a Wednesday
night poker partner, to get the appointment. Ordinarily,
he would have avoided this as a chore, especially since
it was scheduled for a Thursday night and final examinations
began the following Monday.
But he believed fiercely that there had to be a simpler
and more scientific explanation for Western's findings.
And so he had notified members of the Busirian
press and TV stations of the tenor of his lecture. He
had expected to get only local publicity, but the manager
of a TV station had notified the Chicago Tribune. When Carfax had entered the
lecture room, he had
found, not the usual fifty or so students and faculty but
five hundred people from the university and city.
Moreover, four Chicago reporters and a Chicago TV
team were present. The Tribune reporter had discovered
that Carfax was first cousin to Western, and this
was to be played up in the news media. It had no rele-
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vance to the issue, but the implications that the dispute
was a family quarrel were pushed by the media.
It did no good for Carfax to explain that he had
never met his cousin.
Carfax gave a lecture much punctuated and, from
his viewpoint, nearly ruined, by both cheers and boos.
Afterward, he answered questions from the audience.
Mrs. Knowlton, tall, angular, middle-aged, possessor
of a very loud and commanding voice, was the first--
and last--inquisitor. She was the sister of the publisher
of the local newspaper, and she had recently lost her
husband, daughter, and grandchild in a boating accident.
She was desperate to believe that they were still
living and that she could talk to them. She was not,
however, hysterical, and her questions were intelligent.
"You keep referring to Western's theory," she said
after Carfax had tried to answer her satisfactorily. "But
it's not theory! It's fact! MEDIUM works just as Mr.
Western says it does, and some of the greatest minds in
the United States agree with him, even though they
were prepared to call him a quack when they started
the investigation!
"Professor Carfax, just who is the quack? You or Mr.
Western? You tell us that the scientists should be using
Occam's razor! I suggest that it's about time you used it
yourself!"
"Cut your throat with it!" a large and hairy student
had yelled.
He was looking at Carfax, so Carfax supposed that
the advice was for him, not Mrs. Knowlton.
Mrs. Knowlton's voice rose high and clear, overriding